Outlaw Mountain

After showering and throwing on her clothes, and with only the barest attempt at puffing on makeup, Joa

Slipping into the dining room, she dived as unobtrusively as possible for the open seat next to Jeff Daniels. “Where’s Maria

“At home,” Jeff said. “She’s really feeling rotten. I’m afraid it’s something serious, Joa

“Has she been to see a doctor?”

“No. I guess she doesn’t want to know.”

“What about her resignation? Did she hand that in?”

“No. Not yet,” Jeff admitted. “It’s like she’s paralyzed, Joa

“I’ll see what I can do.”

By then the business portion of the meeting was winding down and Joa

It wasn’t until Joa

She made it through her speech by operating on remote control. Her whole body ached with weariness. Her head hurt. Her mouth felt dry. All she wanted to do was fall back into her warm bed. When the speech ended and Joa

Leaving the meeting, Joa

After all, she was allowed ten days of sick leave per year. So far she had used only two days total. In the past few weeks Cochise County had exacted far more than its pound of flesh from its lady sheriff. With that realization, she called in to the department and told Kristin that she wasn’t feeling well. She was taking the day off and going back to bed.

“You and Chief Deputy Voland must have caught the same bug,” Kristin told her. “He called in sick, too.”

“If Voland is out, maybe I should come in after all,” Joa

“No. Don’t bother. Chief Deputy Montoya is here this morning. He says he has everything under control. He offered to hang around all day if need be. You go on home.”

Joa

When she turned onto the road to High Lonesome Ranch, she was surprised that Sadie and Tigger didn’t come racing to meet her. Their raucous greeting was so much a part of any homecoming that Joa

Joa

Parking beside him, Joa

“What are you doing here, Dick?” she asked. “I thought you were sick.”

“I am sick,” he returned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what? About Lewis Flores? I tried. At least I think I did. But you had already put in a full day by then. You had gone home.”

“About Butch Dixon,” Voland said doggedly.

Joa

“I know. You’re engaged,” Voland finished, although that wasn’t close to what Joa

“Dick,” she said reasonably, “I didn’t do anything to you. Butch and I have fallen in love. What do you expect-”

Again Dick Voland cut her off. “I expected you to have the decency to tell me, that’s all. You must know how I feel about you. It’s been like that since you first came to the department. I’ve been waiting and waiting for you to give me some sign that it would be okay for me to ask you out. For you to say that you had spent enough time grieving over Andy and that you were ready to move on with your life. I didn’t see this coming. I didn’t think you’d do an end run around me and take off with someone else.”

He paused long enough for Joa

“When Marliss came out to Oak Vista yesterday afternoon and told me all about it, I didn’t believe it. I was sure it was a lie-that she was just being Marliss. But she made it sound real enough that I had to know for sure. So I came out here to see for myself. I parked out on High Lonesome Road and waited. And sure as shit, the first person to show up is Butch Dixon in that little Outback of his. Je

“Dick,” Joa

“I don’t care what you told me,” he said. “I saw it with my own eyes. First he drove up and then, hours later, who should show up? You, Sheriff Brady-you and nobody else. Come home to shack up. If you didn’t care any more than hat about yourself, it seems to me that you’d at least care about Je

“That’s about enough,” Joa

“No, it isn’t enough. Not nearly. Here.” He reached in his shirt pocket and fumbled out a wrinkled, much-folded piece f paper.

“What’s this?” Joa

“My letter of resignation. I quit. As of now.”

Dick Voland had tried to quit once before-right after Joa

“All right,” Joa